Relationship Problems
Amy told me that I've become very withdrawn during the past two weeks and I feel pretty bad. Grace has been like static cling on me but has definitely been pissed about my long nights away from home. But my bike isn't even talking to me. Though I've had the two wheeled beauty on my mind quite a bit, I haven't spent a single second with her. Not even a "hello" when I park my car in the garage every night. Sure, I've been busy and a little stressed but I'm worried that I've done some serious harm to our relationship. I can't really afford any "make up" gifts like some new wheels or fancy carbon water bottle cages so I'm hoping some quality "together time" will help us re-strengthen our bond.
I'm planning on taking her out for an hour or so after work maybe we can put this past us.
Ok, I really need to get a life!
0824
Damn. I almost made it through the day without noticing. Progress has been made though. Last year I didn't remember until about noon and it was early morning the year before that...
Rock Star Office Seating!
I'm not one to brag but I'm pretty stoked about my seating assignment at the new building. We don't have walled offices here (thank god) and I honestly thought I'd end up with something in the middle of the floor. All the Engineering managers ended up with sweet window seats looking at Elliot Bay and West Seattle. The pic above is from the exact view I'll have everyday. I am not worthy!
LeBlanc: “Armstrong Fooled World”
Tour Boss Jean-Marie Leblanc
Jean-Marie Leblanc, Director of the Tour de France is now saying that there is "compelling scientific evidence" that Lance Armstrong used performance-enhancing drugs in winning the 1999 Tour and says the seven-time champion owes cycling fans an explanation.
"For the first time -- and these are no longer rumors or insinuations, these are proven scientific facts -- someone has shown me that in 1999, Armstrong had a banned substance called EPO in his body," Leblanc told the paper.
"The ball is now in his camp. Why, how, by whom? He owes explanations to us and to everyone who follows the Tour," Leblanc said. "What L'Equipe revealed shows me that I was fooled. We were all fooled."
L'Equipe reported that six urine samples provided by the cancer-surviving American during the 1999 Tour tested positive for the red blood cell-booster EPO. The drug, formally known as erythropoietin, was on the list of banned substances at the time, but there was no effective test to detect it.
The allegations surfaced six years later because EPO tests on the 1999 samples were carried out only last year when scientists at a lab outside Paris used them for research to perfect EPO testing. The national anti-doping laboratory in Chatenay-Malabry said it promised to hand over its finding to WADA (the World Anti-Doping Agency), provided it was never used to penalize riders.
EPO (Erythropoietin) was banned by the UCI in 1990 but a reliable test wasn't developed until 2001. Up until the 2000 Olympics, it had been impossible to detect the drug, which builds endurance by boosting the production of oxygen-rich red blood cells.
So what does all this mean? Well, this is pretty damn serious even if Lance has retired. As I stated before, finding out Lance used EPO during his Tour reign would be absolutely devastating to cycling and probably cancer survivor groups worldwide. To be honest, the happenings of this week haven't change my feelings on his victories- I'm suspicious but I think he won cleanly. It's disappointing that the Tour De France organization would come to such a hasty conclusion. I'm for once glad I'm not living the life of Lance.
Cleaning Up Again
I'm in the middle of doing a laborious manual import of all of my non-Wordpress entries (873), so if you see some posts that are really old, just hit refresh and they should disappear.
I'm not doing this full time, only as a small diversion from the stressful crap.
